Today has been one helluva emotional roller coaster. Woke up excited to kick off my holiday break with a trip to the Branham High School Flea Market. However when I arrived... there were only a handful of vendors set up. I didn't even bother to park.
No biggie... because I had seven days worth of presents from Ryan's advent calendar to rip into. Yeah... I know it was supposed to be opened on a daily basis, but the holiday season can be a little hectic around here.
So without further ado, let's get into it...
Day #15: Surf & Snow Combo
Surfing has always been a part of my life. I just haven't been the one doing it. But I grew up watching it on the television... and my cousins in Hawaii doing it... while I boogie boarded or body surfed.
I have also seen a ton of people wearing Ron Jon shirts since I was a kid. I've never owned one... but now I have their sticker. It'll be added to my slowly growing sticker collection. Not sure I've ever written about it... but it's really blossomed since companies started tossing them into online orders.
Getting back on track, Ryan also tossed in these two Chloe Kim cards:
2018 Topps U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Team and Hopefuls #USA-33
2018 Topps U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Team and Hopefuls #US-36
I've never surfed... but I snowboarded for years. And when it comes to the Winter Olympics, it's one of my favorite events. Chloe Kim is one of the best female snowboarders right now. She has won a pair of gold medals at the Olympics... and six X-Games gold medals. The bottom line is she's amazing.
Day #16: The Other Cool Sport
Ryan followed up that action packed present with another action sport:
1978 Donruss All-Pro Skateboard #1
I might have been a poser when it came to surfing... but I've been riding skateboards since elementary school. Okay... so maybe I wasn't dropping into pools or performing manuals across the playground. But my friends built a halfpipe back in middle school... so I have ridden a ramp before.
These stickers were produced a few years before I owned my first skateboard, but the card collector in me was absolutely stoked to see these in the Day #16 envelope.
Day #17: Pieces of History
The next lot of gifts date back to the 1940's, 50's, and 60's:
Let's start with some vintage (I think Japanese) stamps. It might be a little hard to see... but there's a stamp featuring Mount Fuji from the 40's. The other stamps that caught my eye were the pair of 1964 stamps honoring the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The plan is to research ways of removing these stamps without damaging them and putting them into my Japanese binder.
Next up are these three receipts from the 50's:
All three appear to be candy purchases made by the William F. Brockmeyer Cigar Company. I tried to research the company a little... but nothing really popped up on Google.
Day #18: Olympic Trading Card Box
While organizing the advent calendar a few weeks ago, this box stood out... and I was excited to rip into it.
2023 Epoch Team Japan Box
The box contains eighteen packs with five cards in each pack. But before I get into the packs... let's quickly take a peek at Day #19...
Day #19: One More Olympic Trading Card Box
Yup. Another box. This time there was an extra pack. The plan was to open packs until I completed the base set which contains 37 cards. I honestly figured I'd complete the set within the first box... and save the other box for a rainy day.
Unfortunately... about ten packs in... I discovered that each of the 37 cards have a photo variation. They aren't short printed (at least I don't think they are), so I decided to build both thirty-seven card sets.
Epoch makes it easy to spot the variations, because they printed the card numbers in different colors:
2023 Epoch Team Japan #20 (Black)
2023 Epoch Team Japan #20 (White)
Before I continue with the box break, Akari Fujinami won the gold medal in the women's freestyle wrestling at 53kg at the 2024 Paris Olympics. I don't know a lot about wrestling... but I watched her gold medal match. The announcer stated prior to the match, she hadn't lost in 136 straight matches dating back to high school. That's pretty impressive. Okay, back to the cards...
I ended up opening both boxes:
And still came up three cards short:
#11 (Black) Ueno Yukiko
#14 (White) Honda Tomoru
#24 (Black) Gunji Riko
I was a little bummed that I wasn't able to keep one pack sealed for my unopened pack collection, but that's how it goes sometimes. Not sure if there are any other card collectors who opened up this product and are building this set... but I have plenty of duplicates. Maybe we can help each other out.
Day #20: A Slam Dunk Set
The next present also got me excited:
1991 Foot Locker Slam Fest Set
I've come across singles from this set, but this is the first time I've seen a sealed set. I considered keeping it closed, but I couldn't resist the temptation. Here's what the complete set looks like:
I meant to scan the back of the Griffey or Bo card to let you see what they look like, but in the midst of scanning I received a text from one of my friends that Rickey Henderson passed away.
At the time, none of the major sports websites had confirmed it... so I kept moving forward with the advent calendar. However... every five to ten minutes... I'd pause and check to see if ESPN or MLB would confirm the news.
Anyways... I forgot to scan the back of one of the player cards, but I did scan the backs with the checklists:
This is a really cool set with athletes from a variety of sports: baseball, basketball, football, and Olympians.
Day #21: Another Box of Cards
The last present of the day was this vintage tin:
Not sure how old this box is... but it's really cool. I love the seafoam green color and the fact that my name is featured on it.
Inside there was a bag of cards:
1997 Epoch Formula Nippon
1997 Bandai K-1 Fighters
On top were some Japanese racing and fighting cards from the 90's. And hidden below them were a pair of Menkos:
I'm not sure how old these are... but they're awesome. There was also this baseball toy in the tin:
I've actually seen Ryan show some of these off on his YouTube channel. I love vintage things like this.
Last, but not least, there was this pog sized card featuring wrestlers:
I tried to figure out what set it was from, but my Google search came up short. I'm guessing it's from the 80's or 90's though. All of these items will be added to my Japanese binders.
Unfortunately... I didn't have the energy to put them away today. The rest of the afternoon... I watched some television while waiting to see if the news was true. Sometime around 3pm... ESPN announced it. A few minutes later I received an email from the Oakland Athletics.
I've been sitting around all afternoon thinking about Rickey, his career, and what he meant to me as an Oakland A's fan.
I wrote a few paragraphs... but ultimately ended up deleting them... because it was just me rambling about how great of an athlete he was. However... if you're a baseball fan... you already know that.
So I'll leave you with a single card that holds a lot of sentimental value to me:
1979 TCMA Minor League #808
Back in 2019, my buddy Mike and I both purchased copies of his 1979 minor league card in anticipation of having him sign it at card show. A few months later... he got both cards signed and authenticated. Before today, this card stood as a memento to my friendship with Mike and our mutual fanfare of Rickey. With both of them gone... it stands for a little more now.
Rest in peace, Mr. Henderson.
And before I forget... thank you Ryan for all of these awesome presents and your friendship.
Happy Saturday and sayonara!
